You already know this most likely… if not, let us introduce you to a fabulous resource: How I built This with Guy Raz. It’s a podcast with business founders on how they got where they got, and they all got somewhere pretty amazing so the stories are wild, inspiring and motivational. A favorite of ours here at South & Spoon is the story of Tate's Bake Shop. You've seen them on the shelf, above the Pepperidge Farm cookies. Green bags of crispy delicious cookies, priced more than twice as high as their competitors, available in gluten free options… and often, sold out down to the last bag or two.
If ever there was a cautionary tale on trust and corporate structure, Kathleen King, founder of Tate’s story is one. As business owners in a rapidly scaling company we took what we learned to heart and clarified roles and responsibilities in our own company and we hope you’re inspired to preserve the great relationships you have at the start of our company by being very clear on who does what who owns what and what your roles and responsibilities are internally.
Here’s a little excerpt from the NPR podcast and a link so you can hear the whole story:
Kathleen King was 11 years old when she started baking cookies to sell at her family's farm stand on Long Island. After college, she opened a small bake shop, and eventually started selling her cookies to gourmet grocery stores in Manhattan.
But after twenty years of running a small business, she wanted more time for herself. She brought in two partners to grow sales, but the partnership was a disaster – and after bitter lawsuits, Kathleen was forced to start over from scratch.
18 years later, Tate's Bake Shop – the second cookie brand that she built out of the crumbs of the first – sold for $500 million.
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/13/787897696/tates-bake-shop-kathleen-king